What Bandsaw blade do you use?

[Steven Green]

I've been using a bandsaw in the shop for a little over a year now. It's a G0555 with the extension. I bought it for resawing but I'm finding I use it all the time. Anyway, what is your workhorse bandsaw blade? Width, teeth per inch and Manufacturer.

[bob hertle]

favorite utility blade is a 1/2-6

Bob

[Mike Cutler]

Lennox 1", 2/3 varipitch Tri-Master on the 18". Whatever blade I need on the 14"

[Loren Hedahl]

I found that I use my band saw for either ripping or for curve cuts. One operation takes a wide blade, the other a narrow one. Changing blades is not too difficult, but changing blade widths requires quite a bit of set-up.

So I have two band saws. An old 12 inch Craftsman that was the first power saw I purchased (back about 1970). I later upgraded to a Delta 14 about ten years ago, relegating the Craftsman to a shed in the "back forty".

After several years on a long rainy weekend, I felt sorry for that old Craftsman and spent the better part of the weekend restoring and upgrading it. With a 1/4 inch, 5 or 6 tpi blade it is my most used saw.

For the Delta, I usually keep a 3/8 inch 3 tpi. A 1/2 inch blade is alright also, but I haven't found a lot of benefit to using the wider blade for the type of cutting I do.

Once-in-awhile I like a blade with finer teeth. So I have a couple of those also for thin plywood cutting.

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like you're saying what blades as in plural(?). On my larger saw I run 3/4" 2-3 for re-saw and 3/8" and 1/4" (coarse for speed and fine for detail) for curves. On the smaller saw I run 1/4" down to 1/8" for detail work.

[Russell Smallwood]

For re-sawing or ripping, I use the Re-saw King from Laguna that is being offered on special in the deals forum. Before that, I used 1" timberwolf and 3/4" woodslicer, both were good but not as good as the carbide-tipped Laguna blade. For $75 I bought two.

For curved work, I use a smaller (whatever is appropriate for the task) timberwolf.

I don't recall the spec's on the Timberwolf blades except that they are anywhere from 1/4" to 1/2" wide.

[Chris Padilla]

Lennox 1", 2/3 varipitch Tri-Master on the 18". Whatever blade I need on the 14"

+1 except my Tri-Master is made by Lenox. ;)

I also have the Lenox Diemaster2: bimetal, 6 tpi, hook style, 1/2" blade.

I can use either one for resawing and resawing veneers, which is my main task.

[John Thompson]

Lennox Classic 3 tpi 3/4" bi-metal on my 18" for re-saw....
1/4" 6 tpi on my smaller saw for curves... Olson.. Highland Hardware brand.. TW.. whatever as the majority of standard carbon blades I have run for curves over the years have all worked fine.

[Kent A Bathurst]

.........I also have the Lenox Diemaster2: bimetal, 6 tpi, hook style, 1/2" blade..........


Chris - I've read a lot about the Tri-Master, and one of the other posters to this thread (who is much smarter than me) has assured me it will work just fine on my 14" Delta, so that is in the works.

But - for blades narrower than 1/2" - how do you like the Diemaster2? Outside any $$ issues, how does it perform for you? Sounds like it must be OK if you use it interchangeably with the Tri-master?

Thanks

Kent

[Rod Sheridan]

I've been using a bandsaw in the shop for a little over a year now. It's a G0555 with the extension. I bought it for resawing but I'm finding I use it all the time. Anyway, what is your workhorse bandsaw blade? Width, teeth per inch and Manufacturer.

I guess most of the time I have either a 1/4" X 6 T or a 1/2" X 3 or 4 T on the machine.

I buy my blades at the local saw place, they cut and weld them to length out of several different blade materials.

Very inexpensive to purchase blades that way.

Regards, Rod.

[Thomas Pender]

His mix is exactly mine. I do like the Timberwolfe bades.

[Chris Padilla]

Chris - I've read a lot about the Tri-Master, and one of the other posters to this thread (who is much smarter than me) has assured me it will work just fine on my 14" Delta, so that is in the works.

But - for blades narrower than 1/2" - how do you like the Diemaster2? Outside any $$ issues, how does it perform for you? Sounds like it must be OK if you use it interchangeably with the Tri-master?

Thanks

Kent

My Tri-Master is 1" wide and I have a 20" BS (Minimax M20, takes 14' blades!) so it tensions it up just dandy. I would question a blade this wide on a 14" frame. I really don't think you could tension it properly. Being carbide, it is a pricey blade but cuts very nicely.

In my best estimation (i.e. watching many shows over and over and reading remarks here and there), I believe the Lenox Diemaster2 blade that I have is what David Marks (Woodworks fame) uses on his big blue bandsaw for resawing. After trying it out on many bf of walnut, I must admit that it does a very nice job...so nice and so close to the Tri-Master (and at 20% the cost). I've been touting both of these blades here for a couple years and several folks have posted back their similar findings for the Diemaster2. And quite frankly, because it is so cheap, it is worth the money to simply try it out for yourself.

[Chris Padilla]

His mix is exactly mine. I do like the Timberwolfe bades.

I seem to be in the minority here but I never had much luck with my TW blades. It could be that I didn't tension them using the flutter method (or whatever) or something but they never cut well for me and so they hang on the wall while my Lenox blades do the work.

[Jim Becker]

Generally a Timberwolf 1/2" 3-4 TPI stays on my saw most of the time, although there's been a 3/4" blade on there for some time now due to the amount of resawing I've been doing for the tack trunk projects/commissions.

[Kent A Bathurst]

......... I would question a blade this wide on a 14" frame. I really don't think you could tension it properly..........Lenox Diemaster2 ...does a very nice job....

Opinions vary about a carbide blade on a 14" saw - 1" won't fit, but the 1/2" certainly will. I'll know soon enough the final answer on the tension question. The DM2 - sounds good - I was looking for a 1/4" blade as well - might try both the 6TPI hook and the 10/14TPI Vari-Tooth - different applications.

Thanks

[Jeff Willard]

Currently using Lenox bands almost exclusively. 1" TriMaster for resawing, and I have an assortment of carbon bands for general work. At this point I can see no compelling reason to change.